I like the possibility of taking a simple form and, musically, developing a surface. Through looking and seeing and drawing, you get to know the world around you.
John Paul Miller
John Paul Miller 1918–2013
John Paul Miller studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art in the late 1930s and taught there for four decades, all the while, rather quietly, becoming one of the most accomplished American goldsmiths. He is best known for his revival of the ancient Roman technique of granulation, which allowed him to craft splendid surface textures on the many insects, crustaceans and creatures he so lyrically depicted in his jewelry. As a teacher, Miller inspired a whole generation of jewelry designers and brought a modern expressiveness to an ancient medium. Miller cited his biggest influences as classical music and the wonders of nature (he spent every summer in the Rocky Mountains).
Miller was born in 1918 in Pennsylvania and his family moved to Cleveland in 1920. He studied enameling at the Cleveland School of Art and graduated with a degree in industrial design in 1940. After spending time in the army, he returned to his alma mater to teach in 1946 and, that same year, he discovered a a text written by an Italian archeologist on the technique of gold granulation, prompting him to revive the nearly-lost practice. He began showing his works in the 1950s and 1960s at institutions including the Art Insitute of Chicago (1957), the Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York (1964) and the Brussel's World Fair (1970).
A retrospective of Miller's work was held at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2010, when Miller was ninety-two years old. Miller passed away in 2013. His works are held in such distinguished collections as the Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C. and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
